etsu: 2011-2014

Beauty Industry Standards: Harmful to Young Women

After watching Miss Representation, I started thinking about the beauty industry and how it benefits from using photoshopped models and celebrities to market their products. Think about it: even though we all know that no amount of makeup will make us look like Beyonce or Carrie Underwood, we still strive to come as close as possible. The beauty industry does this on purpose and it is detrimental to young girls. As adults, most of us understand that even beautiful models have flaws and no one looks perfect in real life like they’re portrayed on magazine covers or in commercials. However, when young women see this, they start to believe that they need to look perfect in order to be accepted. We could all benefit from using real, non-altered images of women to advertise real products that we all use.